Health insurer CEO pay in Albany region trails national average

Health insurance executives in the Albany, New York region have been getting paid significantly less than the national average, a new report shows.

Average compensation for top executives at health insurers nationally was $5.4 million last year, up from $5.1 million in 2012, according to a report by Kaiser Health News.

The report touched on efforts to reduce executive pay tied to the Affordable Care Act.

The 2010 federal health law removed companies' ability to shield some executive pay from corporate taxes, the report shows. That change meant insurers owed the federal government at least $72 million more last year in connection to the tax reform.

As for executives in upstate New York, the industry has several key nonprofit organizations, including the top insurers in the Albany market.

Here's the compensation for CEOs of several New York nonprofit insurers in 2012, the most recent federal tax filings available:

Dr. John Bennett, CEO and president of Albany-based CDPHP, received $1,058,884 in total compensation.

Denise Gonick, CEO and president of Schenectady-based MVP Health Care, received $790,031 in 2012. She took over in December of that year for David Oliker, who retired after overseeing MVP since it was created 30 years ago.

In 2012, Oliker received $1,499,201, filings show.

Dr. Michael Cropp, president and CEO of Independent Health, a Buffalo-based insurer, received $1,881,515, filings show.

Those figures are all well below the $5.1 million national average for 2012. The Albany Business Review also reported similar findings this month for area hospital CEO pay compared to national averages.